


Next To You

by foxelot



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cuddles, Fluff, M/M, Not everything is about sex Gwaine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 19:21:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13933629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxelot/pseuds/foxelot
Summary: It's a lazy Saturday morning and honestly... Gwaine could get used to this.





	Next To You

**Author's Note:**

> Fluff isn't my forte but I tried. 
> 
> The biggest of shoutouts to [katarama](http://archiveofourown.org/users/katarama) for a super quick beta job despite being so busy. She's an absolute life-saver. And another big shoutout to the [Merlin-Chat](http://us19.chatzy.com/merlin-chat) for (directly and indirectly) helping me get my writing mojo back.

A lot could be said for how sound a sleeper Gwaine was. Merlin often joked that he would sleep through the apocalypse, if something like that ever actually happened. Gwaine protested loudly every time, saying that he would, of course, wake up for that, because who was going to take care of Merlin if he was asleep. That, of course, led to Merlin letting out indignant squawks that he could look after himself, thank you very much, and Gwaine would have to shut him up with a kiss or six. None of this changed the fact that he slept like the dead on a normal day. The only reason he was even waking up, albeit slowly, at the moment was because there was something moving around on his shoulder blade, and it was rightly annoying. How dare his sleep be disturbed.

Grunting a little, Gwaine shifted on the bed, moving his head just enough to crack open an eye, trying to find the source of the movement. From the angle of his head, all he got was a pale expanse of chest for his troubles. Oh, it was Merlin. 

Gwaine moved his head more so that he could look at the other man more fully, making it very clear that he was awake now. "Morning," he heard Merlin say once he'd noticed the movement. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Like hell you didn't…" Gwaine mumbled, turning away again to shove his face back into the pillow. "Don't stop though." Because now that he knew it was just Merlin, Gwaine actually liked the touch. He could never get enough of it, honestly. 

Above him, Gwaine heard Merlin's laugh, but the touch didn't leave his shoulder, so that was fine. Instead, it seemed to become more directed, like Merlin was making actual shapes rather than just drawing his finger around randomly. It was nearly enough to lull Gwaine back to sleep except…

His head lifted up from its pillowy haven again to look at Merlin fully, knocking the finger on his shoulders off course as he moved. "Did you really just draw a penis on my back?" 

Merlin snorted. "No," he said, but the fact that he was barely keeping a grin off his face gave away the true answer.

"And people say I'm the filthy one…" Gwaine mumbled with a snort of his own. He was much more amused than he was letting on, but they both knew the truth.

"Well I did learn it from somewhere, didn't I?" Merlin challenged, finally allowing the grin to manifest. He swooped down to place a tickling kiss where the offending drawing had been made. "There, is that better?" 

Gwaine hummed. "I can think of much better places for you to be kissing than my shoulder."

A single eyebrow raised, and Merlin shifted on the bed, this time planting a kiss further up, near the crook of Gwaine's neck. "Like there or…" another kiss along the underside of the man's jaw "…there or…" A third went just at the corner of his mouth. "…there?" 

Grumbling quietly, Gwaine reached out with an arm to hook it over Merlin's side and pull him down on the bed again, pressing their lips together. He got no complaints either as Merlin just shifted enough to get closer to him. If he got to wake up to this every morning, Gwaine might find himself more inclined to wake up early. But most days, Merlin was up hours before him and off to his job. It was rare that they spent a morning in bed, and Gwaine decided now that he was going to make the most of it. 

The kissing was slow and lazy, but it was nice. Normally Gwaine would be itching to push things further, faster, deeper, but in the warm morning sunlight, he was content for the time being. As they kissed, he slowly shifted them so that Merlin was on his back and Gwaine was straddling his hips. Okay, so maybe he wasn't that content with slow and lazy. But this way he could more easily thread his fingers through Merlin's hair, and that was simply one of his favorite things to do. If he also just happened to roll his hips into Merlin's… well, that was a minor detail really. Merlin clearly didn't mind that development, if the grip on Gwaine's hips meant anything. Or the way the other man was groaning into the kiss. Perfect. 

Keeping one hand in the messy hair he loved so much, Gwaine let his other hand run down the pale chest he'd woken up to down to the dip of Merlin's hips, intent on taking things to the next level. But then, one of the hands on his hips left it to come to a rest on his hand instead, halting his progress. Making a vaguely disgruntled noise, Gwaine finally broke the kiss, pulling back to search Merlin's face for some kind of explanation. 

"I'm hungry," Merlin said simply, trying to hide the breathlessness the kiss had left him with and failing horribly. 

"And so you… you can't wait a few…" Gwaine looked thoroughly put out, but he knew he couldn't push things at this point. The very idea of trying to push Merlin into doing something left a bad taste in his mouth. 

Luckily, Merlin took no offense to Gwaine's reaction, only smiling and laughing softly. "After breakfast," he promised, shifting to sit up on his elbows and plant a short kiss on Gwaine's nose. Going back to his mouth was how they never left the bed and wasted away to nothing. "We'll have more energy then anyway…" he continued on with a look in his eye that Gwaine liked very, very much. It reminded him of why Merlin was so special to him. Everyone saw Merlin as the innocent one, but truth be told he was right up there with Gwaine's level of depravity. He just hid it better, while Gwaine had no shame. 

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Emrys," Gwaine teased as he sat up enough to remove himself from Merlin's lap. It left him feeling barer than he actually was, the distance between them now. 

"Oh, I would never." Merlin's lips twitched up even more as he drew up on the bed, legs and knees tucked under himself. His blue eyes landed on Gwaine, particularly his mouth, for just a second before Merlin was leaning forward to quickly steal another kiss before darting off the bed before Gwaine could so much as react. 

"Oi!" Gwaine called after him as he scrambled to get up himself, but Merlin was already out of the bedroom, only the sound of his laughter left behind. They definitely needed more mornings like this.


End file.
